Quasielastic light scattering and sedimentation velocity techniques will be used to determine the functional dependence of the friction factor (f) on the molecular weight (M). The Garcia de la Torre-Bloomfield hydrodynamic theory, which takes into account the finite size of variable sized beads, will then be used to simulate the data thereby inferring the molecular conformation of chromatin multimers in solution. Preliminary studies suggest a helix conformation. The chromatin system will be studied as a function of salt, bound ligands, and temperature to examine conditions necessary to induce a conformational change in the second-order folded structure. These studies will be performed on chromatin samples with histone H1 and without histone H1 in an attempt to assess the role of the lysine-rich histones in maintaining the polynucleosome conformation.